CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures settled near unchanged on Friday as uncertainty over US-China trade talks fueled choppy trading in agricultural markets.

CBOT March soft red winter wheat rose 1/4 cent to $4.86-3/4 a bushel. The most active May contract increased 3/4 cent to $4.91-3/4 a bushel.

K.C. March hard red winter wheat gained 3-1/4 cents to end at $4.58-1/2 a bushel, while MGEX March spring wheat rallied 9 cents to $5.66-3/4 a bushel.

Strong export demand helped support prices, traders said.

The USDA reported US wheat export sales for the six weeks ended Feb. 22 reached 3.819 million tonnes, topping analysts’ estimates for 2 million to 3.3 million tonnes.

The USDA separately projected a 2019/20 wheat crop of 1.902 billion bushels, up 1 percent from a year earlier.

The government put US wheat exports at 975 million bushels, down from 1.0 billion in 2018/19, while 2019/20 ending stocks would fall 7 percent to 944 million bushels.

Traders are waiting for additional information about the trade talks, which could lead to more Chinese imports of US farm goods.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he expects to meet China’s leader, Xi Jinping, soon and said they may nail down the final points of a trade deal.—Reuters